I'll be blunt and completely honest with you; I was skeptical on the whole doing the Mary Stewart thing. Not because it's not an interesting story, but because The CW is known for doing shows that are modern with hot guys and girls and doing product placement. I'm fine with that. So I watched the premiere of Reign Thursday night after The Vampire Diaries. I'll give you my opinions on the separate aspects of the show.
First...
The music. Well I didn't really expect the show to feature modern alternative artists. The songs were great and all. I really wanted the song that played in the beginning called "Scotland". The Lumineers were said to be the artists but then someone listed that it was only one of their members, Wesley Jeremiah. It frustrated me that I couldn't find it. Then I downloaded two other songs that featured in the show: "Follow" by Crystal Fighters and "Back To You" by Twin Forks. Those songs are good, but I would have preferred they have included some classical music. Putting modern music in a setting where they didn't have electricity yet kind of ruins the whole story and doesn't connect the viewer with what they are seeing.
Second...
Perhaps my biggest problem was the fashion. The clothes that the girls were wearing didn't fit at all with the setting. The year was 1557 but it didn't feel like 1557. It felt more like I was in modern times watching Gossip Girl going to a Renaissance Fair where people just put on whatever they wanted with no clue as to the actual fashion of the times. Again I felt confused about the setting. There were some ladies wearing gowns that had a more 18th century feel rather than 16th century. The men were fine. Their outfits were simple and easy. Catherine de'Medici was the only one who wore appropriate period dress. I know period stories are expensive, most of the money going to the clothes. STARZ's DaVinci's Demons went with a modern look that resembled a Renaissance Christian Dior fashion show, which was fine by me. Clarice at one time wore a sort of pants suit but it looked very elegant and when she didn't walk it resembled a dress. Then DaVinci was wearing something like a leather jacket but it was something that belonged in that period but also spoke volumes about DaVinci being a bad boy of the times. That's how the costumes for Reign should have been done.
Third...
The actors. I never complain about how an actor looks when portraying a figure from history. It's impossible to find historical look-a-likes and back then physical descriptions weren't many or reliable. I've seen some of the actors in other films and TV shows. The actor playing Sebastian was in The Tudors where he played the dick head Thomas Culpepper. Then he played the bigoted grave digger in Haven but here he might become one of my favorite characters. Nostrodomus was a schizophrenic who had a few lucky guesses but I suppose I can let it slide how they have him as this seer.
Fourth...
The story. Well... the only feature that interested me was perhaps the chick or maybe it's a guy, with the potato sack on her head and the blood in the woods. That has me curious.
Other than that if you've read any history books you'd know that Mary Stewart marries Prince Francis and they become king and queen of France after King Henri takes a tumble in a joust. Catherine seeks to rule both her son and her daughter-in-law but then Francis dies of an abscess in the ear. After returning to Scotland and a few miscalculated moves, Mary Stewart ends up a prisoner in England then Elizabeth has her beheaded (although Elizabeth afterwards immediately regretted it and had the messenger of the order imprisoned for a few days).
So the love triangle that is brewing between Sebastian, Mary, and Francis is sort of unnecessary as we all know who she ends up with but for the sake of story the writers can keep that if they like. Again, the only interesting part is the mystery person with the potato sack. It's too early to tell but I would love some shots of Elizabeth with her council discussing how to deal with Mary Stewart or Mary wondering about Elizabeth. Their frenemy relationship was an interesting aspect of history; two queens, only one crown.
That should cover it all. As I said, the clothes were the biggest problem with me. It's too early to tell if the show will succeed but every show starting out never has a good pilot.
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